Student Complaints Procedure

General Provisions

1. AEC Ltd. seeks to maintain high standards in providing its courses, services and facilities to students. The institution has established its student complaints procedures to deal with legitimate complaints from students in a non – prejudicial, prompt and efficient manner, and in keeping with the University of West London student complaints procedures.

2. Complaints will be addressed through a four stage process . Stage I: Informal Resolution of Complaints Stage II: Formal Complaints Procedure and Stage III: Review and possible referral to CEO for referral to an external adjudicator and Stage IV – complaint to be directed to University of West London

3. All complaints will be dealt with without prejudice and no student will be disadvantaged on account of raising a complaint. Students may complain individually or collectively, where appropriate. Complaints will be investigated impartially. Anonymous complaints will not be accepted.

4. All complaints will be dealt with using the processes contained herein, and the student will be informed of the outcome. Where a complaint is upheld, the institution will make an appropriate response including taking any necessary corrective action. Means of redress include an explanation of actions taken or planned and written or oral apologies.

5. All complaints will be dealt with confidentially with the proviso that any person about whom a complaint is made shall be supplied with a copy of the complaint. A student may be asked to attend an interview with the member of staff investigating their complaint.

6. A record of Stage II complaints received from students and the means of resolution will be kept by Academic Administration and reported annually to the Academic Board as part of the institution’s monitoring and quality assurance processes. No information that will identify any individual will be available within the report.

7. For students under the age of 18 additional support may be provided.

8. Under no circumstances can a student bring an external third party of any kind to address or articulate their complaint. However, a student may bring a fellow student for any stage of the complaints procedure for moral support.

9. Where a complaint made by a student is believed to be frivolous, vexatious or motivated by malice, the institution reserves the right to take disciplinary action against the student for breach of the University of West London Code of Conduct. This will be investigated as a potential breach of Section 2.2. (c) of the Code: Respect other members’ basic rights to work and live in a safe, secure environment, free from anxiety, fear, intimidation and harassment.

Scope of the Complaints procedure

1. The American Education Center complaints procedure covers.

  • All academic services contained in ANC’s published materials including teaching, course content, and learning support services.
  • Incorrect or misleading information about services provided by the institution.
  • The provision of other ANC services in literature provided by ANC.

2. This complaints procedure does not cover,

  • Any matters relating to examinations and assessment procedures of academic appeals. Information regarding these are contained in section 14 of the University of West London Academic Regulations at
    PDF
  • Disciplinary issues – the disciplinary protocols of ANC are synonymous with the University of West London’s Code of Conduct as contained in its Student Handbook
    PDF

The stages of the complaints procedure

1. Stage I – Informal resolution of complaints

  1. If a student requires advice or wishes to discuss the matter falling within the remit of 2.1 above, before making a complaint he/she should consult his/her personal tutor
  2. The complaint may be made orally but ideally in writing and documented (without prejudice) an informal complaint must be made within ten working days of the incident or conduct from which the complaint arises, or in any event as soon as possible.
  3. Most complaints will normally be resolved informally by an appropriate member of staff, in conjunction with the student’s personal tutor.
  4. The personal tutor to whom the complaint is made will investigate or refer the complaint to the appropriate member or members of staff depending on the nature of the complaint. When the personal tutor requests information or documentation from another member or members of staff for this purpose, that information must be provided to the personal tutor by the relevant member of staff within 24 working hours of the request for information being made. A response will be made to the student via email, normally within ten working days by the personal tutor.
  5. Upon completing their responsibilities in stage I herein, the relevant personal tutor will complete The Action Form contained in Appendix 3 of this document and forward it to the compliance officer of ANC via e mail, within 1 working day of communicating an e mail response to the student as state above.
  6. If the student is dissatisfied with the outcome of this informal procedure, then they should follow the procedures described in the formal complaints procedure below.

2. Stage II – Formal complaints procedure

  1. A complaint under this procedure should be made to the Compliance Board via e mail at complianceboard@ancedu.com, normally within twenty working days of the incident or action from which the complaint arises, or the outcome of the informal resolution.
  2. The student should e mail the relevant information form for this stage, contained in appendix 2 of this document to the compliance board within the time frame stipulated above.
  3. The compliance board will discuss the complaint with the relevant members of staff or will forward the complaint to the appropriate area(s) who will investigate the complaint using the information provided by the student in their written statement of the complaint. Individuals and members of staff who are requested to provide information and or documents in this regard must do so within 24 working hours of this request being made.
  4. A response, detailing the investigation, will be sent to the student in writing (by letter or via e mail) by the Compliance Board within twenty working days of the full complaint being acknowledged by ANC. The response sent to the student must be copied to all individuals relevant to the complaint including the personal tutor.
  5. In instances where it has not been possible to resolve the complaint within 20 working days for a legitimate reason, the relevant area investigating the complaint shall write to the student and inform them of:
    • The name of the person investigating their complaint
    • The reason for the delay
    • The date by which the student will be notified of the outcome
  6. Upon completing their responsibilities in stage II herein, the relevant member of the compliance board will complete The Action Form contained in Appendix 3 of this document and forward it to the compliance officer of ANC and the relevant personal tutor via e mail, within 1 working day of communicating an e mail response to the student as stated above in 3.2.4

3. Stage III – Review with possibility of referral to CEO

  1. If a student has reason to believe that his/her complaint has not been handled fairly, in stage II above, he/ she should idea write to the CEO of ANC Dr Punarjeeva Karunanayake within twenty working days of the date of the outcome letter, setting out his/ her reasons.
  2. The CEO will nominate an external individual experienced in handling the nature of the complaint to investigate further into the complaint based the student’s written statement and documentation provided in the forms contained in appendices 1,2, 3 and 4 of this document.
  3. Having done so, the CEO will send a written reply, in the form of a Completion of Procedures letter, to the student within 20 working days of receiving the request for the review of the handling of the complaint. The Completion of Procedures letter exhausts ANC’s internal procedures. Any further opportunity to pursue the complaint will be through stage IV below.
  4. A copy of the said Completion of Procedures form will be sent by the CEO and or his nominee to the Compliance officer of ANC within 1 working day of sending the completion of Procedures letter to the student.

4. Stage IV: Complaint to be directed to the Awarding University / Institution

If you are not satisfied with the outcome received for the complaint raised under Stage III you can write to the awarding university / institution directly. The links to access the respective procedure are given below:

Maintaining records of the complaints procedure

Records of each stage of this complaints procedure including forms contained in appendices 1, 2, 3 and a copy of the CEO’s completion of procedures letter will be sent to academic administration by the compliance officer to place in the student’s records.

Appendix 3 - Action form to be completed by relevant personal tutor on the completion of stage 1 - informal stage

Name of personal tutor –

Date –

Nature of complaint made by student –

Action taken by tutor in the light of information provided by the student in Appendix 1 –

Date on which outcome was communicated to the student –

Appendix 4 - Action form to be completed by relevant member of the compliance board on the completion of stage 2 - formal complaints stage (appendix 2)

Name of members –

Date –

Action taken by tutor in the light of information provided by the student in Appendix 2 including details of staff contacted and or discussions held and with whom –

Date on which outcome was communicated to the student –